Thousands of Miles Away
by Enchanted19
Summary: "I'm going straight to California the moment I leave this camp. And you're obviously going to be here. In New York. Travis, that's thousands of miles away from where I'm going. It's not going to work." — Tratie Oneshot. Don't own anything.


**Hey guys, this is my first ****fic, and it's a Tratie one. Yayyy :) **

**And if you're a mother, Happy Mother's day! Though this story has nothing to do with that, sorry. **

**T for cussing**

* * *

_Thank the Gods, finally! _She sighed inwardly. Today was the last day of the 7 years studying at law school, as well as the day she graduated. Katie Gardner couldn't wait until she finally came back to Camp Half-blood and reunite with her beloved siblings and friends. And probably rest her mind a little before becoming a lawyer. She hasn't been able to visit Camp for the past 7 years. _Seven years!_

How did she even survive those past few years away from her family, anyway?

Katie managed to live in a small apartment in New York as she studied. After that, she wanted to pursue her career in California. She liked how the weather was like over there; how the sun shone brightly all the time, and where the bright colorful flowers and trees grew. She was a daughter a Demeter after all.

A few days of packing later, she arrived at Camp. Standing in front of the sign where it said 'Welcome to Camp Half-blood', she heard familiar voices coming from inside it. She almost jumped in excitement as she carried her suitcase and walked through the protective barrier of Camp, a wide grin marked across her face.

The moment she crossed the border, Katie got tackled into a hug by her step-sister.

"OH MY GODS IS THAT YOU, KATIE?! OH SHIT, YOU'RE BACK! OH GODS, I MISSED YOU SO DAMN MUCH! COME HERE! OH GODS. YOU LOOK SO DIFFERENT!"

Miranda Gardiner had grown so much, as she wasn't the 12 year old shy, little girl anymore. It was very obvious, anyone could tell by her super loud voice that almost broke Katie's eardrums, but she didn't mind. Miranda was 19 now. Katie left camp when she was 18, right after the 2nd Titan War. And now she was a grown 25 year old.

The next ones who saw were Percy and Annabeth. And then it was followed by the rest of the Demeter kids, Silena, Chris, Clarisse, and eventually, Katie's presence formed a small crowd.

Katie was overwhelmed by the number of people who were there to welcome her. She did see a bunch of new faces who only looked at her with confused faces.

Camp looked very different than how she remembered it. It was a whole lot bigger now, of course, with the new kids and all. It was gonna need a lot of space for other demigods.

She spent the rest of the day hanging out with her old friends, catching up on everything, touring around camp, visiting the strawberry fields, and meeting other new demigods.

2 weeks had passed since her arrival, and it felt like something was missing. She figured it was because more than half of the Demeter cabin kids were strangers. But she already got to meet most of them…

Hmm...

So it wasn't completely the same as before. Well, she was gone for 7 years, what did she expect? There were only about five people who she actually knew. She missed the old days, where everyone turned on her for their problems and shit like that. She almost wished she'd never left. These kids barely even talked to her. Katie sighed.

The only people she knew here were Miranda, Derrick, Tulip, Lily, Rose, and Daffodil. Katie half-heartedly picked on her food as she looked around the dining hall for no particular reason until her eyes fell on someone.

The guy stood next to her, staring at her for a little more than a minute. Creep. He looked oddly familiar, especially his eyes, though she could not recognize his face.

_Oh my gods, his eyes... _Katie practically drooled.

"Oh, uh... My name's Katie Gardner." She stood and held out her hand.

The man's eyes widened. "KATIE?!"

She tried plowing through her memories to figure out who he was because he surely did know her, judging by how he yelled her name like that.

"Travis Stoll! Remember?" said the guy with dark curly brown hair with blonde streaks.

Her heart skipped a beat. _Travis Stoll._ The name rang through her mind repeatedly. Wow. Travis Stoll?

Of course she remembered him. He was basically in 3/4 of her life. She grew up with him. Fought with him. Fought _him. _Even though she might have looked like she was ready to stab him with Clarisse's spear, Katie secretly enjoyed their banters and play fights. It gave her something to do everyday. It would instantly brighten up her mood whenever he came along.

She didn't know why, or how. It just did.

"Gardner! Aren't you even going to say 'hi,' or maybe at least 'fuck off, Stoll?'" Travis said.

Katie threw her arms around his torso and embraced him tightly, as if this was the last she was gonna see of him. As cheesy as it sounds, now she knew what was missing. And yes, it was Travis's presence.

"Travis!" Katie squealed.

"Missed me?" Travis said as he returned the hug. His appearance really changed, as well as his voice.

"Stoll, you were like the bane of my existence. I haven't talked or seen you for years. So yes, I missed you." Katie rolled her eyes.

"I know. Everyone's missed me too."

"Mhm. Whatever." Katie said, pulling away with a smile. "You still a pain in the ass?"

Travis only smirked, and glanced at his table. "Well, gotta eat. See ya later, Sunflower_."_

Katie remembered the nicknames that he gave her. Katie-cat, Katie-berry, Katie-flower, Carnation, Chrysanthemumm, and a million others as she secretly watched him from the corner of her eye, creepy as it sounded.

Miranda nudged Katie with her shoulder, "So. What was that?"

Katie, raising her eyebrows, said in fake confusion, "What?"

Miranda didn't answer. But she smiled at Katie as if she knew what exactly was going on through her mind.

Katie felt something soft land on her shoulder. She looked at the possible direction the piece of paper might've came from. The Hermes table.

Katie reached down and opened up the crumpled ball of paper saying: _meet me at the beach after campfire? -Travis_

Katie immediately crumpled back the paper before anyone could see. She turned to Travis, who was sitting by his brother, Connor, and nodded.

"Oooh, Katie got a date!"

Katie looked behind her only to see Drew peeking over her shoulder, "Hello, Katie."

"Yes?" Katie said, fake-smiling sweetly.

"So who is it?"

"An old friend."

"So you're meeting up with him, at the beach, wearing only jeans and a t-shirt?"

Having known Drew for years, she panicked. "Leave me alone!"

"Nope. You're coming with us!"

Katie came out of the Aphrodite cabin looking like a...you guessed it: a freaking Victoria's Secret model.

She probably looked like an idiot, wearing these clothes just to attend campfire. (Well, not exactly just the campfire, but that's aside the point) So she ran back to her cabin to change back in her regular camp clothes.

So much for getting tortured by the Aphrodite girls.

* * *

During campfire, Katie sat with her siblings, thinking why Travis would want to meet her at the beach. Her emerald green eyes searched around the area to find a dark curly haired someone, but the dark curly haired someone wasn't there.

Later after campfire, Katie sneaked her way towards the beach while everybody else went back to their cabins except a few campers, probably doing the same thing as she was.

She then found him sitting on a rock, examining his sneakers, hands in the pocket of his jeans.

"Travis." Katie called in a soft voice.

Travis looked sideways to see, "Oh, hey, Katie-flower. Didn't think you'd come. I mean it's already past curfew. Aren't you a goodie-goodie?"

"Shut up." Katie frowned, "Why did you want me here?"

He shrugged, "Just wanted to catch up!"

"Catch up..." She repeated, walking toward him as slow as a turtle.

"Yup."

"Well alright." Katie sat on the rock, leaving about 12 inches away from the figure next to her.

"How are you?" He asked.

"Good. How 'bout you?"

"Connor and I just came back to camp."

"I can see that. I mean how have you been for the past 7 years?"

"Oh. I'm a police officer." Travis stated.

"Enough with jokes, Travis." Katie chuckled.

He smiled. "But I'm not joking."

"Seriously? But you're like...a thief, and a liar." She only hoped she didn't sound mean, she just couldn't picture Travis arresting criminals. He was a criminal himself, for God's sake.

Travis just laughed. "Can't believe it either. Believe it or not, I only steal when I'm at Camp. Mostly."

Katie was silent for a moment, still wondering whether or not he was lying.

"What made you wanna be a cop?"

"I dunno. I just think carrying a gun around is pretty cool. And other people being scared of you, y'know?"

Now Katie was convinced by this. Kind of. "I guess."

"And there are perks of being a cop and being amazingly hot at the same time... You wanna know what?"

She sighed, knowing where this was going, "What?"

"Well, if you have an extremely sexy body like I do, as well as a handsome face, people—mostly girls—practically beg you to arrest them. Happened to me a few times, actually. I was just doing my work when this girl came up to me—"

"Travis?

"What?"

"Shut up."

Travis grinned, "Jealous..."

"Yeah, the day I'm gonna be jealous of a girl is the day I decide to kill a plant."

He chuckled, "Okay, so what about you?"

"You mean how have I been? Guess."

"What is this, a game?"

"Just guess, fuckface."

"You a gardener?"

"No! Why does everyone think that?!"

Travis laughed. "Lawyer?"

"What? How'd you know?"

"So you are?"

Katie sighed, "Yes! But how did you know right away?"

"Well I figured that if you weren't a gardener, you'd be a lawyer."

"But why?"

"'Cause..."

"...is not an answer."

"Cause you're smart, intimidating, confident and...quite scary." After Travis said the last part, he closed his eyes tightly as if bracing himself from an upcoming punch, or slap.

Just when he'd made Katie's stomach flutter, he had to add _that._

Katie playfully shoved him off the rock that they were sitting on, but hard enough for him to fall on his butt. Travis laughed as he stood up and brushed the sand off his pants. He then sat back down again.

"Just kidding, geez."

"Whatever, Stoll." She brought her hand on his arm, but it only lasted for a moment. She gazed off into the distance toward the horizon.

"For how long are you staying? I'm staying til the end of the summer."

"Same..." She smiled.

So far she felt good being around Travis. As if nothing had changed. Katie gave him a smile, but not like the ones she pulled off when she was with her siblings. This one was a real one.

The rest of the night were filled with laughter and and jokes, most of it from Travis.

"You remember when Annabeth dared you to kiss me?"

"Oh gods, don't talk about it, Travis."

His chuckling increased. "Why not?"

"It was embarrassing."

He continued anyways, "I tried pulling away—"

"Stop—"

"—you obviously wanted more 'cause you-"

"Travis!" By this time Travis got weeds wrapped all over his face. The only part of his face not covered by weeds was his nose.

"Will you shut up?" Katie said in a dangerously nice tone.

He made a wordless sound in the back of his throat, which she took as a yes. The weeds slowly crawled off of his face.

"So where are you going?" Travis asked, "Like where do you plan on working? Which state?"

Katie narrowed her eyes at him, "And why do you wanna know?"

Travis smiled mysteriously, "Nothin'."

"California. I don't know why- it's just that I've always wanted to visit Hollywood. Also the beaches. And Yosemite. Have you heard of it? Oh, that will be the first on my list. And don't forget the weather, too. I heard it's really nice." She sighed happily with her eyes closed as if in a dream.

"And Disneyland." He added.

Katie smiled, "And Disneyland."

Both of them were unaware of the time, as they very much enjoyed each other's companies. But of course, for Katie and Travis, nothing ever goes well. A harpy showed up, who was approximately only fifteen away. The bat-looking creature glared at them dangerously.

"Harpy. Run." Travis whispered loudly. Katie furrowed her eyebrows in confusion. She looked the direction Travis was looking at, then ran.

Travis ran the other way in order to distract the harpy from getting to Katie.

Katie arrived at her cabin breathing heavily. She sighed in relief as she closed the door, when she remembered about Travis. Her eyes widened at the thought of a harpy mauling him. She was about to run back to the beach, but there were about 5 harpies outside that stopped her from getting out, so she closed the door once again, and waited impatiently for the harpies to move, but had no such luck. Katie was growing worried sick every minute passed by. Almost at the point where she almost cried.

Her conscience was telling her to find Travis. If he had died, she was gonna blame it all to herself. Then again, this was Travis. Travis who was a son of Hermes. Which means he could easily outrun the harpy, right? She'd seen him run before. He could sprint just about as fast as that one roadrunner who was always running from that poor coyote.

To calm herself down she pictured the harpy being super-glued to the ground (just like with the coyote), or it falling off a cliff, (which doesn't make sense whatsoever) or maybe getting crushed by a falling tree (very unlikely).

About half a painful hour later, a soft banging on the door was heard. That caused Katie to jump a little. She looked through the cabin door's peephole, praying to the Gods it was Travis. Her prayers were answered.

"Travis!" Katie exclaimed, her face suddenly brightening up fully.

"Hey! You alright, Katie-cat?" Travis said, grinning.

"Well, yeah. Are you?" She scanned Travis for any sign of wounds or anything like that, but he looked perfectly fine.

"I'm still flawless, don't worry." He smirked.

Katie sighed in relief, "But you could've gotten hurt!"

"You sound like a mom."

"'Cause I am."

Travis eyes widened. "WHAT?!"

"Gods, shut your mouth. I'm kidding." She laughed.

"Katie-cat, that wasn't funny!"

"Why not?"

He shook his head, but smiled anyway, "Night, Kates."

"Night, Travis." Katie kissed him on the cheek, and flashed him one last smile before closing her cabin door and leaning against it, leaving Travis grinning outside.

Katie had trouble sleeping that night. Her ADHD was acting up again. A certain son of Hermes filled her thoughts all night long. It was really frustrating for her. She didn't know why he was plaguing her mind. What was so special about him? Yeah, nothing.

But then again she remembered she wasn't going to stay here at Camp for too long. So if ever she started a relationship with someone, it would've been pointless. It would have meant leaving and parting ways with him.

The next morning, Katie woke up wearing a huge smile, then turning into a frown moments later. Because she realized that all looked forward to for today was seeing Travis and spending time with him. And this was very bad. She knew she wasn't supposed to feel this way, afraid they both will have to leave each other by the end of the summer. She decided it was better this way.

The only way out of this was to stay away from him. And she did, but it didn't help that Travis was in almost all of her classes. It was like the Fates were bullying her.

"Katie-cat, what's up with the frowny face?" asked Travis during archery.

"Oh, nothing...I just can't seem to work this stupid thing out." Katie lied smoothly, lifting up the bows and arrows.

"Want me to help you out?"

"Sure," She said automatically, and almost a little bit too quickly, earning a smirk from Travis, "I mean... Sure, but no thanks?"

She walked away blushing deeply in embarrassment.

Her next class was sword fighting. Katie slashed 3 dummies at once, letting out the anger building inside of her. Angry to herself for being so vulnerable towards Travis.

"What's up with you, today?"

And once again, Travis approached her. He was in this class too? Wow, isn't this just great?

"What? I'm just being productive, as usual." Katie said, throwing the knife aimlessly, which landed on the dummy's knee.

"Why so grumpy?"

"You're here."

Travis sighed, "I thought we were past this?"

"What?"

"This whole 'hate' thing towards each other."

Katie rolled her eyes, "We are, I'm just busy."

Travis looked at her skeptically, "And why don't I believe you?"

"Why don't you ask yourself?"

She said as she sauntered over to the next set of dummies. Holding the hilt of her sword tightly, she lifted it up and slashed it on the dummy, also doing some moves.

He shrugged, following her, "I would, but I'm afraid I won't get an answer."

After a couple of minutes of being ignored, Travis finally gave up and left her. It made Katie feel a little better about herself.

This continued on for days, weeks, and months. Travis attempting to start a conversation, Katie shunning him. Today was the final week of summer before camp becomes almost empty again. Katie's humongous green suitcase was now half-filled.

Katie looked around the mess hall as dinner passed by. She was trying to cherish everything before she takes off again. She was certainly coming back, just maybe not soon enough. On her left was Percy and Annabeth talking/flirting. She wondered what was the point of flirting when two people were already together. Maybe that's just how it was when you're in love?

There was the thug Clarisse slapping Chris's wandering hands away. Katie put on her disgusted face at that.

Then there were the Stoll brothers. She couldn't help but smile at them. She was definitely going to miss those goofballs. Who wouldn't?

She kept looking around, trying to memorize this place. She was so engrossed at the 10 foot raging bonfire, she didn't notice Travis plop down next to her.

"Don't run now. Please." He said, "I'm not that dumb—well, most of the time, I mean I'm still passing Chiron's logic tests. Which, by the way, was like extremely stupid, like I'm a 25 year old man who already has a job, and not to mention hot. Seriously, if you're already good-looking you don't need to be smart-ass like Annabeth."

She gave him a look, but he continued, "But back to the point: I'm not that dumb, and I know you're avoiding me…"

"Wow, Travis…" She emphasized the look she was giving him, "Woowwww. Amazing observation."

"Why, though?"

"Do I need to answer that? I recall you saying you're smart. Don't smart asses like Annabeth know everything?"

"Excuse me, but why do I keep hearing my name?" Annabeth came up, only to receive a glare from the pair, "Aaaand bye."

After Annabeth left, Travis pressed on. "Tell me, Katie-cat."

Katie sighed, "I know you like me, Travis…"

Seeing Travis look down slightly confirmed her thoughts. It felt like her heart was doing cartwheels beneath her chest. "And if I let you do this—and by 'this' you know exactly what I'm talking about—I might give in. You both and I know that if ever that happens, it's not going to work out in the end."

"What makes you think that?"

"I'm going straight to California the moment I leave this camp. And you're obviously going to be here. In New York. Travis, that's like thousands of miles away from where I'm going. It's not going to work."

* * *

And those words were pretty much the last things she said to Travis after she walked away from him that night. It had only been a few days and her heart was feeling clenched in sadness. She stepped outside to the balcony in San Diego, California.

The view outside the window distracted her from her sad thoughts, however. She walked to the balcony and looked over the green-y landscape mixed with slightly busy roads on the side. It was pretty. Different from her apartment in New York. Way different. It was quieter, but not too silent. There were still noises in the background, but some how different from the noise that New York produced. She supposed it was better.

_Though it'd be be better if Travis were here…_ Katie thought absent-mindedly.

She heard the doorbell ring. It wasn't that long of a walk through the apartment, since it wasn't that big. But it wasn't too small, either. _Perfect for two, maybe…_ Another awful thought slipped into her mind.

Speaking of Travis. (Or in this case—thinking?)

"Travis, what the actual fuck?"

"Hi." He looked like the happiest person alive. He was so adorable with that big smile.

"H- how…W- wh…" She stuttered, trailing off.

"How? Traveled. On a plane. Why? Because I love you."

She was mad, confused, but ecstatic at the same time. It was overwhelming. Plus, he just told her that he loved her.

"Travis…"

She reached out, tangled a hand in his hair, drew him down to her height and slapped him. Then she guided his lips to meet hers.

She pulled him into her apartment, pushed the door closed and continued their passionate kissing. There was not any space between them which made it harder to travel across the room. Finally Katie jumped and encircled her legs around Travis's waist tightly. They landed on the couch and kept kissing, putting all their feelings into it. Travis's hand slid up her shirt, sending shivers up her spine. Katie's arms were placed around Travis's neck, keeping him as close as possible.

"You're insane." Katie breathed out, pulling away after a while. She was in a straddling position, and he saw that her lips were swollen from their kissing and her hair looked mussed. He was probably in the same state also.

"I know I am." Travis smiled a crooked smile and pecked her lips.

"Thank you, though. I appreciate you following me all the way over here. By the way, how did you know where I lived?"

"Yeah, well, figured you couldn't live without me… And as for finding out your location, I have my ways." He winked.

Katie smiled, not bothering to talk about his 'ways' furthermore, "Okay, I know this is probably gonna be a weird question to ask a guy, but... Will you... I mean—I was wondering if you wanted to...move in? With me, of course. I mean, like—it's fine if you don't want to..." She trailed off, feeling anxious.

He gave her a goofy smile that Katie found annoying, but cute at the same time, "I'll have to think about that."

She glared at him and smacked him on the chest.

He laughed, "Of course, stupid. I can make arrangements. By the way, my cheek still hurts..."

* * *

**That was fluffy. But how**** cute, right? Tratie is amazing. Sorry if they were a little out of character. I tried not doing that.**

**Well I started this more than a year ago, and didn't get a motivation to finish it until now. Hope you liked. ;)**

**Reviews are appreciated. :)**


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